IN THE MEDIA: ET Football: Special day in many ways for New Diana's Palmer

In honor of National Adoption Month, the Longview News-Journal featured a story on Buckner adoptee Toby Palmer, also a senior captain of New Diana's varsity football team.

DIANA — Tonight's football game has special meaning for Toby Palmer on several levels.

Palmer, a senior at New Diana High School, will be playing his final high school game when the Eagles visit Waskom to take on the defending Class 3A Division II state champions in a 7:30 p.m. contest at Wildcat Stadium.

The date of the game also has special meaning for Palmer.

Today is Gregg County Adoption Day. Toby and his three siblings, Caylin, 15, Codi, 13 and Shane, 12, were adopted by Michael and Candy Palmer back in 2011. Michael is an AV production teacher at Longview High School, and Candy is a small business owner.

"I've been here four years, and that's the longest I've been in one place," Toby said. "I have a place that I can come to now, and I've had better friendships than I've ever had because I've been in one place long enough to have those."

Toby is a team captain for the New Diana football team. He has recorded 77 tackles (second on the team), 18 tackles for loss (first), three sacks (second), a fumble recovery and three forced fumbles (first) in 2015. A week ago against Winona, Toby recorded 17 tackles, four tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble.

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